The Florida Panthers signed forward Frank Vatrano to a one-year contract on Friday.

Vatrano came over to Florida in a February trade and ended up appearing in 16 games with the team. During those appearances, Vatrano compiled eight points and turned out to be a valuable addition.

"Frank brings scoring ability and depth to our forward group," said team President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Dale Tallon. "He was a solid addition to our forward group during our playoff push and we're excited for his continued development with the Panthers."

Vatrano is only 24 and could be a part of Florida's future as the team continues to build up a young roster. Vatrano went undrafted, but has since taken part in 124 NHL games during his career. The forward has 39 points in those games, with the bulk of them coming as part of the Boston Bruins.

Florida recently made a qualifying offer to Vatrano along with Alex Petrovic, Jared McCann, Curtis Valk, MacKenzie Weegar. All of the players besides McCann can file for salary arbitration or follow in Vatrano's footsteps and work out a contract with the team.

Florida's preseason schedule will get underway on September 17th with a double-header against the Nashville Predators.